The Grass never dries
by dr100
Summary: The Fourth Doctor arrives in Stockbridge, only to uncover a mystery surrounding the death of a paper boy, the innocence of the village, and the creature in which throws bricks through windows.
1. Chapter 1: Stockbridge Horror

**Doctor Who**

**The Grass never dries...**

**Starring Tom Baker, as the Fourth Doctor.**

**Chapter One: Stockbridge Horror**

**By Nathan Mullins**

* * *

Stockbridge was cold, dark, and damp. The paving stones surrounding the newly established village green were wet and now incredibly slippery. On the patch of grass, in the dark he himself might well have stated, if he were not in 'hullabaloo', was the fellow in the colourful clothing.

He had dark, curly hair, the sides of which were only visible due to the man's hat resting on the very top of his head. He wore baggy trousers, the colour of which was difficult to establish as the darkness enveloped all. He had on as well, a long scarf to keep himself warm.

The grass was wet, but this did not affect the man cross-legged on it. He had set out beneath him a picnic sheet, something to prevent him from ruining his trousers, yet perhaps it did not bother him, as his mood and present thoughts were with the family of a young man, aged twenty, and who had fallen to some animal, or monster, which ever you might describe the incident best to the mother of her innocent child.

The Doctor had arrived by TARDIS, and parked her beside the sweet shop, was where he bought his huge bundle of jelly babies, and scoffed the lot almost as soon as he had found the body. He had wandered into the news agents, sniffed about the back rooms, found a brick had been thrown through the shop owner's private quarters, and then found Mike, the popular young youngster who, even at twenty, still did the paper round for those less able to get around.

He knelt beside the body, felt his broken bones, saw the blood trickling down his arm, and sniffled, the dust in the room surrounding poor old Mike was difficult to remain in for any longer. Inside Mike's breast pocket, the Doctor had found some string attached to a card, which on the front read 'Mike – the one, the only, paper boy', but on the back gave his house number and home address.

He tucked it away in his trouser pocket.

"I suppose I may as well stick around, do the detective work, out stay my welcome… possibly, and answer questions the police may have difficulty in answering for themselves. That is, unless they wish to make fools out of themselves."

He got up, surveyed his surroundings, and on the desk, came across the morning's newspapers.

"Poor chap," he continued. Then he found something else, left beside the body, and he bent down, on all fours, to observe what it was he had taken notice of.

"How odd!" he mumbled, aware of how he had begun talking to himself again, but then travelling alone was a crime.

"Fur, all too sub standard, I mean, what would fur be doing beside the body of, or unless, it was an animal. That might explain it, but then how many animals throw bricks through windows, unless this was some…" and he trailed off, in thought, instead of words.

"Perhaps, this holds the first clue to something I might only fully to get to grips with after having informed Mrs Cornwall of her son's death."

He got up, circled the body, starring at Mike from three unusual angles, before clearing off.

Ding-dong. He pressed the bell, and it donged, for a moment or two before the butler arrived, and gave the Doctor access to the Mansion just a way outside of town.

The mansion was wonderful, inside and out. It had taken the Doctor an hour to find the right address, but in the end, it took one 'demanding an answer from a fearful old woman, called Madge, short grey hair, grey eyes to match, grey eye brows, and with her old shopping basket, on her way to the news agents, when the Doctor stopped her, and told her to return home.

Mrs Cornwall was so very proud, and she was asked to attend the living quarters as there was a stranger in town asking after her. She clung to the butler's arm, as he walked her into the room the Doctor was sitting in, and he stood to greet her.

"Mrs Cornwall, I presume?" he asked, his voice so low and astonishing.

"Yes, what may I do for you?" she replied. "Mayhew says you're a Doctor? I have an awful case of swine flew, I think. Could you…"

The Doctor quickly jumped in.

"I'm afraid not Ma'am, you see I'm not thinking of hanging about, for any longer than I may have to, fortunately. Also, I'm not so much into the medical profession, as I am a fireman, an officer of the law, but deep down, I'm neither."

He slowed down, catching his breath, although he never really appeared out of words in which case were in fact catching up with him physically.

"What you might do for me, is tell me when you were last in contact with your Son, Mike."

Mrs Cornwall shuddered, uneasily.

"Has anything happened to him?" she asked.

The Doctor nodded, and explained.

"He was murdered, in the village, in the back of the store he worked for. He was, in two, almost. I'm sorry.

He saw the woman almost collapse out of pure horror.

"But please, may we continue with the proper procedures?" the Doctor asked her.

The woman was just utterly shocked, her jaw left wide open. Even Mayhew, the butler, had heard the news, and felt awful.

"Yes," she said, sobbing with disgust. I spoke to him yesterday. He said he was going to ask Mary, his girlfriend to marry him. I'd given him my ring, but I suppose; I'll have to break the news to her."

"Ah yes, how dreadful," the Doctor replied.

"So do you know who did it?" the woman asked.

"Oh, it's far too early to give any indication as of yet, but I may be back to answer whatever questions you might have, as I am personally involved in this disaster, and very often, I do get results."

He got up, off the chair he had been seated on, and strode off, passing Mrs Cornwall, and tipping his hat to her, Mayhew saw him out.

At the door, the Doctor and Mayhew lingered for a short while.

"Of which force are you with Doctor, might I ask?"

The Doctor smiled.

"My own, Mayhew, now unlock the door and comfort your person…"

Mayhew did as he was ordered, and saw the Doctor off the premises.

"Bumbling fool," the Doctor grumbled, as he found himself back on the route towards the village, when he suddenly noticed how light had gotten, since his stay in the company of Mrs Cornwall and her awkward butler.

There was less of a pavement to walk on, as the roads were long and countrified. There was less traffic here than in the city, and surprisingly, there was less indication the authorities knew of the murder victim's stay in the village.

As he reached Stockbridge, from across the patch of grass, from the angle he was at, he saw something zoom by, past his gaze, something altogether alien, a creature unlike that of any human being, he had so far come across.

"Halt, you there, wait!" he cried, chasing across the patch of grass, but slipping and then sliding, then falling, and then OUT.

As he lie unconscious, something sniffed about him.

**To be continued.**


	2. Chapter 2: Stockbridge Terror

**Doctor Who**

**The Grass never dries...**

**Starring Tom Baker, as the Fourth Doctor.**

**Chapter Two: Stockbridge Terror**

**By Nathan Mullins**

* * *

"Ah, my head," he moaned, feeling the bump and then the dried blood in his hair.

"How long have I been out, I wonder?" he went on, unaware of just about everything since his fall.

"Not long," answered a voice from beyond some stacked cardboard boxes leaning against a pillar in that old stuffy newsagents.

A woman, of about 18 years old stepped out from beyond the rubbish the Doctor was surrounded by.

"You were… drunk, were you?" she asked him, having bent down to view the stranger close up.

"Ah no, you see I was chasing after somebody, but then I must have slipped on that patch of grass outside."

"Are you a policeman?" she asked him.

"Why, am I wearing fancy dress, or does my voice tell you I'm not around from these parts?"

"Both," the woman answered. "Thing is, what are you doing in Stockbridge?"

"Oh, I'm just visiting, not staying put for long though. Just here to wrap up a case, you know, like Sherlock Holmes and all that, well, that's me, sort of."

The woman shrugged her shoulders.

"Thing is, I promised to look after you. You slipped and banged your head, and my dad and I found you in a right state. We brought you in here, and then my dad said 'he had to be somewhere,' and so I promised I'd stay here with you."

The Doctor shrugged his shoulders also.

"So come with me, that way, you're still in my company, and I'm in yours. By the way, I'm the Doctor, no stranger to Stockbridge, but on this occasion, I'm obviously not remembered."

The woman helped him up, off the floor.

"But tell me," he went on, having just recalled something she had told him.

"You said this was the newsagents, yet you haven't mentioned the body?"

The woman didn't know what the Doctor was on about.

"There was a body of a man named Mike Cornwall, in this very room too I think, but he's clearly been moved. A sight such as that may have well turned you inside out. By the way, you haven't given your name?"

The woman was confused. This man was jumping ahead of each conversation, too fast for her own mind to keep up.

"I'm Rachel, and furthermore, did you say Mike Cornwall? The one, the only, paper round boy?"

There was a pause, and then a nod from her new found friend.

"Yes, he's dead, sadly. I heard he was a popular youngster, a promising 'paper boy', at twenty might I add'."

Rachel grinned back at him, and then the two left the shop to adventure out into the open.

"What time is it?" asked the Doctor, wrapping his coat around him still, the weather a tad chilly.

"It's approximately 12:00pm, lunch time," she told him.

"Ah, though I wasn't the only hungry caterpillar, come along. Let's have lunch."

The two strode off towards a café past the village green, a short distance up a hill.

Once they reached their destination, the pushed the door to the small building block open, and walked in to greet those behind the till.

"Hello, I'm the Doctor, this is Rachel, may we lunch here?" the Doctor asked, in his grand voice.

Rachel just laughed at him.

The woman behind the till nodded, showing them to their seats.

"What would you like?" she asked them, in her small white apron, and red cap.

"Ah, ladies first, Rachel what would you like?"

Rachel picked up the menu, and instantly chose the first dish on it.

"Pasta please, and perhaps a side dish of chilli?"

The woman in the apron nodded approvingly.

The Doctor starred at Rachel, strangely.

"Odd combination," he said, frowning almost, and then ordering himself.

"May I have a Raspberry and blackberry crumble, some milk, and what Rachel is having?"

The woman strode off, nodding also.

"You said what I was having was strange, and then you ordered it too?" Rachel said to him, weirdly.

"Ah yes, but I'm willing to give anything a try, before I pass any judgement. I also love the taste of pies."

"You're really weird," she told him.

"Oh, don't worry, that's just in my nature, and well, you'll get used to that, I'm sure."

Out in the street, watching from a distance, was what the Doctor had been busy chasing earlier. It starred at the two humans in the café, wondered when they would come snooping again, and at the same time, planning to wipe the one the female referred to as Doctor, OUT.

Their meals returned to their table, and they tucked into them quickly.

"You see," the Doctor was saying, through a mouthful of food. "I reckon its alien, and nothing whatsoever to do with you humans interfering. This thing, whatever it is, had some sort of grudge against Mike Cornwall. It threw a brick through his private quarters. Not many life forms, unless so cruel would do such a thing, unless out of anger."

Rachel looked up from her meal.

"You're saying an alien with anger management problems is out there throwing bricks through windows of those it takes a disliking to?"

The Doctor nodded.

"You see, whatever it is, is certainly alien. There was a scent I picked up in the newsagent's earlier. Sure, the body had taken a walk, but I smelt something unusual, as if that, which had taken poor old Mike to the Cleaners, was an animal."

Rachel looked back down, and stuck some more of her pasta into her mouth, chewing it slowly.

"Where are you from?" she asked him afterwards.

"Oh, all over, probably," he replied. "But Gallifrey originally."

"Where's that? Ireland, isn't it?"

"Well, I suppose it must be," the Doctor replied. "I can't give anything away on the subject."

In no time at all, Rachel and the Doctor had finished their meals. The raspberry and blackberry pie was srum-diddily-umptious, and the pasta and chill was out of this world.

"Where to next?" asked Rachel, curious to know.

"Well, we've eaten at just around the right time, so now to go on a massive monster hunt, begin the search and find and eliminate the intruder on your world."

_"My world, it isn't?"_

Rachel didn't know what to think.

"Oh, well what I mean is…" and then again he trailed off. He was starring at something, having just exited the café. Up above the roof top of the local church, he saw something that just wasn't the height of any shape, recognisable as that of a bird, but whatever it was, the Doctor was on the case.

"Quickly Rachel… which is the best route to the church?"

The Doctor sounded urgent.

"Um, follow me," she said, rushing off down the hill, taking a left at the fire station, up another hill, to where the entrance of the church was situated.

"Oh marvellous, now Rachel, you must stay here, see that nobody enters this place. If in trouble, call on me, and I'll be right with you." And with that said and done, the Doctor zapped the lock on the crooked brown church door, and burst in.

He searched for the steps, found them in an instant, and rushed to the highest level, the bell tower.

The bell was in the oldest bell tower around, and with no closed windows close by, he climbed through one, which led straight onto the roof. He saw what wasn't a bird still sitting crouched on the very edge of the roof, unaware he, or she had company.

The Doctor's scarf was tied back to the bell, his escape route should I need one. He slowly approached the creature, which close up resembled a gargoyle, and when announcing – "I'm the Doctor, no need to get up, take my hand, etc…" the creature, out of honest shock, tumbled backwards, and shattered into a thousand tiny pieces on the ground, close to where Rachel was standing.

**"Doctor!" **she shouted.

"I'll be with you in a _moment_," he replied, starring at her from up above.

"Strange way to go, but I imagine not all is _quite as it seems_."


	3. Chapter 3: The Stockbridge Menace

**Doctor Who**

**The Grass never dries...**

**Starring Tom Baker, as the Fourth Doctor.**

**Chapter Three: The Stockbridge Menace**

**By Nathan Mullins**

* * *

Rushing down from the very top of the church, the Doctor found Rachel on her hands and knees, picking through the remains of what had fallen from the roof.

"Rachel… what are you doing? Get back!" he yelled at her.

Rachel was almost pushed aside, the ignorance of the Doctor too much to handle on her own.

"What is it? What have I done?" she shouted at him.

"Whatever this was, what I said before took the shape of something strange, alien no doubt, and you're picking through it without a care in the world. We know nothing of what this is."

Then he paused, stared at her hands, and saw that the soil of the remains had rubbed off on her. Her hands were turning grey, a colourless mixture.

"I tried to warn you," he continued. "It's lucky that I'm around to save you," and then Rachel got her head around the fact she had been foolish. She saw her hands, and it, whatever it was, frightened her.

"Do something!" she yelled.

"Oh, and what would you have me do?" the Doctor asked her. "First I must identify what this creature, now the remains of something awful, is. From the results I plan to take, I should know how to fix you."

"But I might die before then?" shrieked Rachel, clearly both angry with herself for following the Doctor around, and for picking through the remains of that 'thing'.

"Oh I doubt it. Look at your hands, notice how the infection, if you can call it that, has only reached your wrist. Well, it looks set to stay that way for a while. Your veins are desperate to clog up the infected area. You'll last, and also, the food we've eaten…"

He trailed off, Rachel thinking 'how can the foods I've eaten save me?'

"It can convert the stuff you've eaten, bind the infection as one, and as waste, and loose half of what has poisoned you."

"Poisoned me?" she yelped.

"You'll be fine; now, I can carry out the results here. I've a kit of instruments in my jacket pocket, just stay put, or no, maybe do some exercise, y'know it may burn off the feeling you're likely to gain from the substance inside you."

He took out a shovel like tool and gathered some specks of the dusty like life form. He then took from his trousers a tube, and then shovelled the dust into the container. Then, putting the shovel away, he then took out another tube full of a blue liquid. He shook it, nothing spilling, the lid wrapped around the tube tight.

Then, he poured the blue liquid into the dusty specks, and stirred it with some form of stick. He took the stick out after a moment or so, and looked carefully at the results taken from it.

"Ah, funny, such an unusual life form. It's alive, still, but at the same time, completely unable to transform back into its original shape. Yet, now it's dead. It sensed I was on the brink of identifying it. It was a Muck."

"A Muck?" asked Rachel, having never heard the like before.

"Yes, a Muck, a life form from Jupiter, or at some point in their history, they colonised Rae, and ended up on Jupiter, perhaps however for the wide variety of minerals there. They're junkies from out of space!"

"Hence why they're called Mucks," chuckled Rachel, though she knew she had nothing to laugh about. She was still wishing she had never walked into the Doctor's life.

"Ha-ha yes, now having identified who they are, where they're from sort of, we can fix you."

"Fix me? Doctor, you're making me out to be some electronic doll or something or other."

"Well, I'm sorry. But that's beside the point I wasn't hoping to make. Come on!"

Come on where?" Rachel shouted after him.

The Doctor was on his way down the hill and back towards the newsagents.

"To the stool in Mike's private quarters, we're going to get you well again!"

"Mike?" she called, once more.

"The paper boy!" the Doctor informed her.

As she caught up with him, they raced towards the village green, when the Doctor paused, and saw a row of police vehicles outside the newsagents.

"What's going on?" asked Rachel, then spotting the officers taping off the area.

"It's difficult to tell, sadly," the Doctor replied. "I wonder…"

"What?" she went on. "Do you wonder?"

"I wonder what they know. The body of Mike Cornwall was taken; you and I could find no trace of it in that shop, so what else has gone on?"

"Also, how did they know if there wasn't a body to locate?" Rachel pondered.

The Doctor nodded.

"Correct," he said, baffled. "Mind you, there was the old woman I bumped into this morning, on my way to the Cornwall's but, they're a proud family. Wouldn't lift the telephone themselves so therefore the butler might, but then Mayhew isn't the sort of fellow to shout about other people's business."

"So, we say we're on the case, tell them what we know?" Rachel continued.

The Doctor didn't know how to answer her question.

"That may be difficult! The police may get suspicious, blame us for Mike's death, after all we know almost everything about him, and then there's your hands, the right hand is now covered in the stuff."

Rachel was getting so frightened for own well being.

"You've got to do something!" she told him.

"I will," the Doctor said, nodding.

"Thing is, those policemen, they might have records on what terror lurks in Stockbridge. I can't help but imagine they hold the key to what is going on. It would be a surprise to find, or…"

"Or… you fix me first, and then talk to the police?" Rachel insisted.

"Oh very well," the Doctor replied, and together, they marched onwards, until they reached the back door to the small newsagents.

"We must be quiet, the police are just outside. If we slip inside, you're to do as I say!" the Doctor ordered.

In her present state, Rachel was hardly going to refuse.

They rushed inside, pushed through the back door that slowly creaked open, and then Rachel sat on the old wooden desk, watching the curly haired fellow do the business.

He took out the tube with both the blue stuff and grey specks inside, and poured a small sum of it all over Rachel's hands. He saw it work its magic.

He grinned, a cheesy toothy grin. He saw Rachel's face light up, and that was when the back door burst open, and in rushed two armed officers.

"Hands up, now!" they ordered. Rachel could not believe for one instant that in precisely that time, the Doctor had cured her.

"Oh you'll have to excuse her," the Doctor said, standing up and tucking the tubing back inside his pocket.

"She's just never been happier," he continued.

The officers faces were concerned for the woman, but for the Doctor, not so.

"Hands on your head, I say," said another officer, with a commanding voice. The third officer in the spanking blue uniform joined his two colleagues.

**"You're under arrest!"**

**To be continued.**


	4. Chapter 4: The Stockbridge Jigsaw

**Doctor Who**

**The Grass never dries...**

**Starring Tom Baker, as the Fourth Doctor.**

**Chapter Four: The Stockbridge Jigsaw**

**By Nathan Mullins**

* * *

The Doctor had been cuffed, and led out into the open. As he left with the officers, Rachel followed on behind them, protesting.

"He's a good man, slightly nutty, but please let him go. I haven't much cash, but I may have enough…"

She was ignored, and the officers pressed him up against their van, fumbling through his pockets.

"The CIA – of Intergalactic status wouldn't dare go through my belongings!" the Doctor told them.

"Why? Are, or were you carrying a weapon?" they asked him.

"No," he replied. "It was just that I have nothing to hide."

The police took out his sonic screwdriver, and starred at it long and hard before asking – "What is the purpose of this device?"

"Humans," the Doctor answered.

"Easy Doctor, not all humans," Rachel jumped in. "Just answer the man's…" but the Doctor cut back in.

"You play the innocent, when I suspect you're all guilty of something. That if you must know is a Sonic Screwdriver."

"A sonic what?" repeated the police man.

"It is what it is," answered the Doctor. Nothing less of the human brain, at times, you know Sir, is an awful thing."

The Police man continued with his search, Rachel being observed by the other officers.

"What was it luv?" asked one, sipping from his mug of hot coco.

"What was what?" she asked.

"Well, did he kidnap you, or did you always have a funny taste in men?"

Rachel was gob smacked. Was this so? An officer treating her in such a manor was unheard of, ever!

She turned away from him, and whispered to the Doctor, whilst the search went on, - "Did you hear what he said to me?"

"I did," replied her friend, wrestling with the officer behind him, as his face was squashed up against the side of the van.

"You know," he said. "I think these guys are…"

"Oh go on, Doctor, what was it?" the officer behind him laughed, so hard that his colleagues joined in with him.

"Might I have to add foul language to your ever increasing list of crimes?"

"Now hold on right there," the Doctor demanded. "He tried to straighten himself up, but failed to do so, only managing to twist himself around.

"You know nothing of what is going on, here in Stockbridge. I gather you're from out of town," and then he winked.

"Bundle him inside boys," the officer of his men ordered.

The Doctor nodded at Rachel, as if that was how he was going to say goodbye, but would they ever see one another again? She desperately hoped so, as she now believed in just about everything he spoke with her of.

From across the green, her father charged to her side, gave her a short hug, and then starred at the police van zooming off into the distance.

"What was all that about Rach?" he asked her, as if to say he'd been watching from a distance but feared getting involved.

"They've taken the Doctor," she said, upset with herself for letting him go.

"There's nothing you could have done sweetie," her father told her. "Whatever he did must have been pretty bad. They were around at lunch time," he continued.

"The Doctor was like a member of the force," Rachel told him. "He was on to the case surrounding Mike Cornwall."

Mike Cornwall," he father pondered. "The paper boy," he asked.

Rachel nodded.

"Come along Rachel, home I think is where we should visit next, don't you?" and Rachel gave in to what was waiting for her back at the cottage. The reason her father had had to jog off earlier. It was after all her birthday and she gave into the idea her father had something waiting for her, something surprising.

Back at the cottage, all was ready. Rachel's family had all turned up, with big boxes wrapped in wonderful wrapping paper, and cards aplenty. The idea was – to give Rachel one hell of a surprise, and as she was on her return trip there, all hid in the darkness in the living room. They planned to jump out on her and sing her a 'happy birthday'.

Rachel entered the room her father pushed open and at once, there was this loud ' "SURPRISE!" and Rachel was just so overwhelmed, not with seeing all her cousins, aunts, uncles, and her naughty older brother, but her mum, who had taken a fall, lie shaken on the floor, blood trickling out from her open mouth.

"Phone an ambulance, quickly!" someone shouted.

Rachel dived to the ground, but it was no good. Her mum had shut her eyes on the last night of her life. She sobbed beside her, and then turned to her dad.

"Show's over folks," he declared. "Family business and that means all you friends of our daughter should go home at once!"

"What has happened?" asked Rachel, all tears and emotion.

"I don't know sweet heart, I just don't know," her father replied.

What Rachel did know was that something WAS amiss. The Doctor being taken away for nothing at all and the murder of her mother… how was she ever going to cope? But one thing was for certain, that these strange events in Stockbridge soon had to be resolved. This surely, was the last straw!

**To be continued.**


	5. Chapter 5: Stockbridge Frights

**Doctor Who**

**The Grass never dries...**

**Starring Tom Baker, as the Fourth Doctor.**

**Chapter Five: Stockbridge Frights**

**By Nathan Mullins**

* * *

"You know, I don't wish to raise alarm, but you folks are such awful drivers, you've ripped open the back of this van!" the Doctor bellowed, his voice loud enough to reach the very front of the police vehicle.

"Still, you needn't worry about me, I'm well and truly cuffed!" he continued, and whilst the back door of the van swayed forwards and backwards in the wind, whilst travelling as fast as with its siren loud enough for the whole of Stockbridge to hear, the Doctor made a jump for it, sliding out and into the mud the van had somehow forced deeper and soggier having driven through it.

The van screeched to a halt just ahead of him, and aware of this, the Doctor hid in the bushes to the left of his position. He hid himself well into the tall trees, and dark bushes. He had seen the officers who had arrest him a short while back get out and search for him, unable to locate him.

"No boss, he's **GONE!**" one shouted, another officer shaking his head, and smacking the officer with the big mouth on his back.

"We'll pick him up soon enough," he replied, then later getting back into the van, and speeding off.

The Doctor strolled out from his hiding place, looked around, and saw he was alone, and just how quiet it was on the outskirts of the village. Then he saw the palace like home of the Cornwall's just across the road from where he stood gazing up through their highest window, in it, the mother of Mike, of whom he had spoken to some time ago.

The Doctor, unable to shake the chains from his wrists free, strolled up to the door and rang the bell using his head.

Almost at once, he stepped back, and watched as Mrs Cornwall darted from the window, until her shadow from the outside reached the door from the inside.

"Hello?" she asked, as her door fell back, revealing the mother who was now not even that.

"Oh hello Mrs Cornwall, you may not remember me, I called some time ago, or then perhaps you might as I first broke the news to you regarding the death of your, err..." and he paused, staring past the woman, noticing 'he' was not around.

"Taken the evening of, or have you thrown him out. I'd prefer the second option, if I may. Not fond much of your butler, he was always a little too creepy."

Mrs Cornwall looked even worse knowing she had answered the door to a nutter.

"But then another thing puzzles me. What were you doing upstairs? Praying, is as good a guess as any?"

The woman cocked her head to one side, and then looked oddly at the man in front of her.

"You've been spying on us, haven't you?" she shouted.

_"Us?" _the Doctor replied.

"I don't know what your game is, you mad man!" the woman shouted, angrily. "But I'm ever so shocked the police have not as yet picked you up?"

"Oh but they have," said the Doctor, showing her his cuffs. "Thing is, they're not officers of the law, and you know something you just shouldn't. That's why you're praying for forgiveness. You've gone beyond those 'sacred expectations'."

Mrs Cornwall stared at the Doctor, her eyes full of tears, but settled with what he was saying.

"You'd better come in, so I may explain in further detail…"

"Why thank you," he replied, getting his coat off, and tipping his hat.

"I could do with a cup of tea too, and some jelly babies if you've got them!" he added.

5 minuets later, and the two were settled. The Doctor sat on an old wooden chair, starring back at Mrs Cornwall who was starring back at him, whilst eating a biscuit or two.

"Where should I begin?" she asked.

The Doctor put down his tea, and answered – "Tell me why you did it!"

"Did what?" she yelled back at him.

"Why you ordered your butler eliminate your son!"

The woman was in outrage.

"Why I what?" she shrieked, horrified. "I did nothing of the sort," she replied, so womanly under the circumstances.

"But we both know you did," he went on. "Why else were you praying upstairs, full of tears, sobbing?"

The woman replied – "Because I was scared for my own safety!" she declared. "My butler was found dead earlier today."

The Doctor stood sup, shocked. He sipped the rest of his cuppa, and then plopped it down on his saucepan.

"Thanks for the tea, Ma'am, and sorry for the false accusation, but you see, we cops are scoundrels," he told her. "Tell me, how did this come about?"

"He was making a 'happy birthday phone call' and someone cut him off."

"To _whom_?" the Doctor persisted.

"To a woman, her first name Rachel?" she answered.

With that said, the Doctor thanked Mrs Cornwall and immediately left her side, to find his friend, who he knew needed his help and assistance more so than ever.

Of course, he thanked her also for feeding him, giving him something to drink, and asked her nicely to get the door for him. He was still handcuffed.

As he rushed out into the open, it was pouring with rain. Hail stones at that, and they hurt when they sprung on you, unknowingly. As he rushed on up the road, heading into the village, he had not noticed how dark it hat gotten, until one way or another, he bumped into somebody.

**"Oof!" **a woman cried, falling back into the dirt track she had before stood firmly on.

The Doctor staggered backwards.

"Oh excuse me, you haven't seen," and then he quickly pulled a funny face, all goggly eyes and wide mouth, tongue showing.

_"Rachel?" _and then he grinned at her. "Did you call me an _oaf _just then?" he asked her.

She shook her head, grabbed the Doctor's outstretched hand, which then pulled her up, and he in turn tipped his hat.

"Who me… no," she replied. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I could ask you the very same, but forgive me if I answer first. I was on my way to visit you."

"Hang on," she said, quickly. How'd you escape the officers?"

"The door was open, so I told them I'd be off, then jumped out and hid. They're lousy police men, too lazy to even bother carrying out a proper search!"

"And you were searching for me because?" she continued.

"I believed you were in danger," he said, still grinning.

"Well, someone did murder my mum, so yeah, you're a little too late, but I bothered to come and find you nonetheless."

"Why?" he asked her, hesitantly.

"Because I trust you to end this, save Stockbridge, right the wrongs and so forth," she answered him.

He gave her a short hug, and then stood back, and replied – "You're full of knowledge, and that's just marvellous."

**To be continued.**


	6. Chapter 6: Against the rules

**Doctor Who**

**The Grass never dries...**

**Starring Tom Baker, as the Fourth Doctor.**

**Chapter Six: Against the rules**

**By Nathan Mullins**

* * *

Together, they strolled off into the darkness that somehow just appeared. It was getting late, and as to the death toll increasing, this terror unleashed on the village had to be stopped.

"What were you doing inside there? Snooping, or hiding out?" she asked him, smiling away, as if either two were alright.

"Investigating," he said, almost sounding hurt she'd accuse him of either her suggestions.

"As it turns out, Mrs Cornwall was praying, for the deaths of her son, and now her butler…" he trailed off, something new having just entered his mind.

"Thing is, I'm beginning to wonder if all this is singularly connected to the Cornwall's overall. First Mike, and then the old lady's servant, nobody else has been harmed!"

Then Rachel shot a look at him which told him otherwise.

"You've missed out my mum," she told him.

"Ah yes, but why would they target your family?" he said. "That bit doesn't make any sense!"

"Maybe it does!" a voice whispered, coming up from behind the Doctor and his pal, and as they turned to discover who was there, the Doctor instantly recognised that of the old woman he'd spoken to some time ago, her name Madge.

"Oh hello, again!" he said.

The woman gave him a short smile, and then said nothing, but she soon would.

"You were saying?" he said. "What do you know?"

"The Mucks attack only those who put a foot wrong in ending something they are most concerned with, and you of all people should know that Doctor," she informed him.

"You mean to say Rachel travelling with me isn't a good thing as she too becomes as involved as everybody else involved, such as the Cornwall's?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying Doctor. I want you to research my family name, use the library in the village, and then tell me what you've discovered on our next chance meeting."

Then, she faded into the darkness, the Doctor stepping forward to touch the spot he and Rachel could have sworn they'd spoken with the old woman, but then he shouted – "Wait a second, please!"

Then, they turned, and together, the Doctor and his assistant ran forward, the Doctor having heard just what he feared most, and at such an awful time to match, when all was becoming unravelled. He had heard the police sirens coming their way, and as they ran on, they suddenly reached the village, hopping around a corner into a back alley to escape them. They did, and saw the flashing blue and white vehicle zoom past.

It was just a coincidence that whilst hanging around down the back alley, they stumbled upon a back door, which was open, and was that leading to the library, where the books of Stockbridge's past awaited them.

Inside, all was dark and frightening, and the Doctor worked the lights and suddenly they came on.

"There, on the table Doctor, how odd!" yelled Rachel.

The Doctor held his finger to his lips, and told her to hush, as it was the middle of the night.

"What's that?" he asked her.

"The history of Stockbridge, and its most notable villagers," she read.

The Doctor opened it, the red cover folding over to reveal a whole inner world, 350 pages in length and as excited as ever, the Doctor found a seat and sat at the desk, next to Rachel, who together assisted him in helping him with what he was searching for.

After a long while, the Doctor eventually found what he was looking for.

"Madge Hen, grandmother to… Maxwell Edison!" the Doctor hissed.

"What is it?" asked Rachel, the urgency in her breath told the Doctor she had lost her everything and was too busy of late to brush her teeth.

"I'm not sure, only, well… I'm being led to believe this name is of some importance, as if I recognise this 'person'."

"Perhaps this is so," Rachel added.

"She's right," said Madge, entering the room, seemingly from out of nowhere.

"Read on, or should I, you seem to be a little concerned with who I am, and why I bare such significance."

She leant over Rachel's shoulders and read on.

"The Doctor became the head of the Stockbridge Chess society, and in 2008, you met up with Max again. Max, Doctor… was like a companion to you!"

"What happened to him?" he asked Madge.

"Oh, I can never say, as I'd be breaking the rules somewhat."

"_WHAT _**RULES?**" the Doctor asked her.

"Your rules," Madge answered.

She had faded away once more, and left the Doctor and Rachel pondering. But then, something mattered, something so very important.

"Come on!" the Doctor boomed, shutting the book until the dust on it spluttered free from its binding.

"Where to?" asked Rachel, catching up after him.

"To the local constabulary, if you'd please. I'd like to carry out some investigations and furthermore, before we end up there, I'd like someone to do me a favour and reach into my jacket pocket, pluck the key from within there, and free me from my cuffs."

Rachel quickly did as she was so subtly asked, and the Doctor was most grateful.

"Right, let's go!"

He turned off the lights on his way out, and then he and Rachel darted out into the village, past the green, and then towards the lantern shaped blue sign in which even from where they were at present, charging towards it from its long distance, it looked imposing, as if it wasn't as impressive as those who claimed they were officers of the law.

They were in fact Mucks, in disguise.

**To be continued.**


	7. Chapter 7: Doing as he wished

**Doctor Who**

**The Grass never dries...**

**Starring Tom Baker, as the Fourth Doctor.**

**Chapter Seven: Doing as he wished**

**By Nathan Mullins**

* * *

Rachel was nervous of entering the police station after the Doctor. He had said to her that if she was afraid, she could always wait outside, and she'd taken that option, because this wasn't her mission. She didn't want to die next. But then by waiting outside, alone, and in the darkness, the only light shining down upon her all thanks to the police like lantern, and that was too little to bring her fears to the surface, saving her from what doom she feared the most. Death by means of being squashed by some 'alien menace' she, deep down, wanted to murder, for what it had done to her mum.

But then she'd be no better than those who had done the dirty deed, and the Mucks were no strangers to filth, let alone dirt full stop. So, she plucked up the courage to enter in the office like building after him, and as soon as she shut the door after her, she saw him, with his hands raised, and his eye brows frowning down upon those who held him at gun point.

"Oh, it would appear your accomplice has joined us," the officer said, his gun now aiming at her.

"Oh, _has she_?" the Doctor asked, turning in her direction.

The officer turned the gun back on him.

"What are you doing snooping around here?" the officer continued, taking a step forward, confidently.

"Oh, just snooping officer, why you arrested me, didn't you?"

The officer said nothing. He simply put his gun away, and took out his handcuffs. He walked towards the Doctor, when the Doctor sprung his little trap. Elbowing the man in his stomach, and pushing him towards Rachel, she too smacked him to the ground.

The Doctor reached for his gun, and pointed it at the man in the blue suit.

"Now, I want some answers from you, Muck!" he roared.

"You will suffer for meddling, Doctor!" the police man informed him.

"Oh come on, you wished to target me all along!" the Doctor hollered at him. "You just went about doing so by taking out those you deemed part of your plan, but in the end, you targeted non essentials. They were never involved with this incarnation!"

The policeman rose to his feet.

"What are you talking about?" he shouted at the curly haired nut.

"I'm a Time Lord, which means I change, as do you, only you're a Muck, but nevertheless a shape changer still. You should know that we Time Lords choose only so many as we can, at least handle, and I think you've imagined I've involved myself with all those you've murdered. You're wrong, I apparently knew somebody by Maxwell Edison, but not yet!"

"So we 'mucked up' pardon the pun. You will still be eradicated," the Muck barked.

"But why do you wish to kill him, and why did you murder my mum?" Rachel screamed, the Muck having to cover his ears.

"She was a suicidal maniac. She tried to kill herself did you know, but three times in your time, and that was because she was a sad, aging…"

The Muck was cut off by Rachel, who shouted – "Stop it!"

The Muck went on, until Rachel grabbed hold of the gun, the Doctor had struggled to hang on to, and shot the police man until his speech was silenced.

"Rachel, that was uncalled for. Yes he was teasing you, but you're stronger than this. Bolder even," he said, taking the gun from her, emptying the bullets, and then using his sonic screwdriver, destroyed the lot.

"Thing is, we know their game now," he said.

"They've got it in for me, and I know why."

Rachel was keen to find out why this was so, but the Doctor wasn't in the mood to give an explanation so detailed.

"We've got to stop the others. As far as I know, there are two more of them around here somewhere, and I've got this feeling I know who their next target will be…" and he stared down at Rachel, and grinned.

"Don't worry, it isn't you!" and he saw the woman breath a sigh of relief.

"It's either Madge, or your father, so this is what I want you to do. Return home to your dad, look after him, and I will attend to Madge. At 8:00am in the morning, meet me on the green in the village."

"Why?" asked Rachel.

"Because…" and then the Doctor paused, pointing at the body of the policeman in the police station.

"Look!" he screeched, Rachel turning her attention to that instead of him.

He's crumbling to bits, he seems to now appear as soil," she said, then realising the Doctor had charged off, leaving her scared again, only to charge out after him, searching for him, only to discover he had gone and left her, thinking of returning home to be with her dad.

The Doctor was strolling along the outskirts of the village, not, for once, in the direction of the Cornwall's address, but elsewhere, to where Madge had sneakily left an time and destination written down on a scrap of paper she'd handed to him in the library.

On his journey, he reached for his yoyo but realised he'd been messing with it in the TARDIS, and left it there.

"Oh, so soon have you come thinking I'm next!" whispered a pleasant voice from behind him once more. As he stopped, turned and saw her, it occurred to him this was a trap.

"Yes!" he said, happily. "I know you're in danger, and so do you, as _you've seen the future, haven't you…"_

"Have I?" the old woman asked.

"Yes, you tell the future, using your little crystal ball. You know you die, but I deal with those who carry out your murder."

"Then you know I have seconds," she replied. "Got any words of wisdom to share before I leave here?"

"None," the Doctor answered. "Only, you've done me a _favour_," and then she fell forward, smoke rising from the centre of her cardigan, a laser bolt having dealt with her.

Out of the dark and heavy mist, appeared the officers and their flashing blue motor.

The Doctor stepped forward, ready at least to face his demons.

"Die **DOCTOR!**" they bellowed.

**To be continued.**


	8. Chapter 8: Unfinished Business

**Doctor Who**

**The Grass never dries...**

**Starring Tom Baker, as the Fourth Doctor.**

**Chapter Eight: ****Unfinished Business**

**By Nathan Mullins**

* * *

"Oh I _wouldn't_," the Doctor yelled back at them. They didn't understand, and still they held their laser firmly in their hands, so very keen to kill their 'man'.

"Why should we spare your very existence?" they asked.

"Oh, because you've no real reason to end my life, not because I've done nothing to you, but because should you do this, you shatter the whole of time and space as it currently sits well balanced in Space Time."

"The connexion between Space Time and Real time can be broken!" they shrieked, again raising their blasters.

"And how would you know? Tell me, have you shattered two separate realities?" he asked them.

"No, but then we will gain experience from this event!"

**"WAIT!" **the Doctor shouted, so loudly under the increasing pressure.

"You'll have to excuse me," he said. And then, he was off, into the darkness, out of sight, and avoiding his captors.

"After him," the Mucks roared, chasing their ultimate foe.

They pursued their target, until they suddenly just gave up. Their ultimate weakness, or so thought the Doctor, monitoring their every step, their every spoken word, from within a dark spot in the trees beside the road.

Then, something untoward occurred, almost as if by chance, this was the end of the Doctor's problems, but at the same time, just to find out what they wanted to kill him for, was something that would continue to play on the Doctor's mind. As the Mucks strolled casually back to the vehicle, another was driving at full speed, from another police car, and without warning, sped into the Mucks, and the driver unable to stop as the police, the real police, were on their trail.

The Doctor, in utter astonishment, tiptoed out into the road after all went quiet once more. Like before, the Mucks had turned to ash slowly crumbling away. They had, in effect, defeated themselves through their stupidity.

The Doctor, never mind how happy he was to escape them once and for all, never once grinned to prove just how happy he was, as far too many innocent people had died before him, and that was, partly his fault.

He decided to take a walk back to the village, a slow walk, just to keep himself busy until morning.

And morning soon came, and Rachel was on her mat waiting for him on the village green. He stopped by her side, and sat on her mat, grinning at her.

"Your father was alright, yes?" he asked her, knowingly.

She smiled and nodded.

"You did as I asked," she said. "You sorted it all out, saved those who still remain a part of my life."

"I said I would," the Doctor said, getting up to leave. "Thing is, Rachel, has it never occurred to you why on Earth this grass is so wet, even in the sunlight?"

Rachel wondered where on earth this conversation had materialised from, but answered no.

The Doctor explained – "Neither do I, but one of these days, I'd like to find out.

And then Rachel watched as he got up, and strolled over to a blue wooden box. He tipped his hat to her, and then stepped inside.

Then, all of a sudden, his ship vanished, and this left Rachel clueless, because the Doctor hadn't left her thinking Stockbridge had been saved, but Stockbridge was yet to be discovered. What had he meant regarding the village green?

_Time would tell, as it often did on the occasion that regarding this event, meant something else, something as of yet, was undiscovered._


End file.
